So last night was the last class for Tricks 1, which Mumble has been taking (along with his friends Chopper and Charlie) for the last six weeks at Zoom Room Culver City. You can read my previous post about Tricks 1 (which covers the first three sessions) here.
Here's a breakdown of the second half of this training:
Week 4: In our class, we didn't introduce new tricks in week 4, I think because we had been a little advanced the first three weeks so there were already a lot of tricks in our repertoire. We spent week 4 practicing and honing the tricks we had already been introduced to, with the focus mainly on ringing the bell, going to the mark, play dead ("on your side" for Mumble; "bang" for everyone else), and Yum Yum (which remained really difficult for most of us).
Week 5: In week 5, we introduced skateboards, which certainly made the class interesting. The dogs were introduced to it using the "touch" command to attempt to get them just to touch the skateboard. Some of them (like Chopper and Charlie) caught on really fast and were already making it move along and attempting to ride it. Mumble, however, was terrified of the moving skateboard. I think for this to work for Mumble, we would have to introduce it the same way Jaime introduced us to the teeter (which also moves) in Agility 1. I was convinced Mumble would be terrified of it, but Jaime so carefully conditioned the dogs to it (first having them eat treats off of it just while it was stable, then having them put their feet on it and get treats, etc), that by the time it actually was moving while Mumble was on it he was convinced it was a treat machine, and it is now his favorite thing in agility.
Week 6: This was the last class, and for the most part we practiced the things we had already been working on. However, there was one new trick added to the mix this week - Jumping through a Hoop. We were each given a hula-hoop and we used treats to lure the dogs through, starting with the bottom of the hoop touching the ground and slowly moving it upwards. I assumed that Mumble would be good at this because he already knows how to jump through the tire in agility, but for some reason he was super resistant and stubborn about it. After encouragement and assistance from our instructor, Dave (who basically gave Mumble a pep talk and got him all excited before I called him through the hoop), Mumble finally went through. But anytime I moved the hoop in the slightest, he went back to being resistant. Chopper was nearby, and I saw that he went through the hoop pretty willingly, but he was always looking ahead and not really at where the hoop was, so he kept tripping on it. Basically, no matter where it was, he was trying to step through instead of jumping through.
Overall, here's what I thought each dog was best at:
Charlie: Without a doubt, Charlie's best trick is "play-dead." I wish I had a video of it to post here on the blog because it is so dramatic, it's difficult to really give an accurate picture of it in words. To set it up, Charlie starts out sitting with her mom, who instructs her to "run to daddy." As she starts running towards him, he says "BANG!" really loud, pointing at her with a finger "gun," and Charlie instantly gives off this loud bark, leaps into the air, and falls back down into a "play-dead" position on the floor. For extra drama she sometimes bites at her dad's pants leg on the way down (like "I'm going down but I'm going to try to take you with me!")
Chopper: It's difficult to say for Chopper, because he learned almost everything we attempted (he's very food motivated), but it's not like there is a clear favorite that is done dramatically like Charlie's play-dead. Chopper's overall best trick was probably "sit pretty," which he mastered exceptionally well, especially for a dog so big (which makes it more difficult to balance). However, the trick that was the most exciting to see Chopper do was the skateboard. Chopper has always had issues with skateboard and barks at the kids in his neighborhood when they ride them, so the fact that he was so eager to attempt it at all was pretty great. And he really did try to "ride" it, not just touch it. He would put his front paws on it and push it forward, but again, his size made this more difficult than for the other dogs.
Hunter: Hunter did most of the tricks pretty well, but I'd have to say that I think his best was the hoop on the last day. Most of the other dogs still looked as if they were figuring out the hoop since we only did it this one class, but Hunter was a pro right away. His mom could hold the hoop up pretty high from the ground and he would run over and jump straight through it on command.
Mumble: Mumble did anything that involved the "touch" command as the basis pretty well, including ringing the bell and going to his mark. He will run over and stand on that mark on command no matter where you put it, and is always accurate with getting his front paws right on it. But I think his best was ringing the bell, which is ironic given that the first week it was introduced he was afraid of making it ring and would touch it so gingerly, or on its side, or hover his paw over it instead of on it. Now, you can put the bell on the floor and point to it and he just runs right over and rings it. For some reason, he prefers to make it ring twice in a row ("ring ring - now give me a treat")
Now that Tricks 1 is over, we are considering Tricks 2, but will probably postpone enrolling in that because during the next 6 weeks (or "semester" at the Zoom Room), I will be out of town a couple of times so Mumble would miss some sessions. Meanwhile, Mumble and Chopper are both starting Agility League at the Zoom Room this Sunday, which will give us something to do. Eventually, I think the next level of Tricks will be great to continue to build on these skills, and it certainly gives Mumble a lot of much needed mental stimulation. One of the great things about it was that the tricks give you the opportunity for structure in other environments. So for Chopper, for example, Mandy is able to get him to perform some of his tricks when he is in the waiting room at the place where he goes to daycare / boarding. This is a great distraction from what is typically a stressful place / time for Chopper (who has separation anxiety). For Mumble, it gave the dog walker something structured she could do with him when she came for a visit, so that during those days he is at home, he not only gets the physical exercise from the walk, but the mental exercise of practicing the tricks as well.
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